What do 50+ plus sprinters do for training?

it would be great if we all could post our good workouts, notably the sessions that indicate we are heading in right direction.

Hopefully, we can all look back in 12 months time with some improvements.

So if you're a hypogonadal male like I am (61 yrs old/testosterone levels in the low 500s ng/dl), what "issues are you likely to have in the future going on TRT?

Are you hypogonadal? If not, what are your T-levels? What do you eat or supplement with to increase your T-levels?

I don't race anymore & barely run one day a week due to post-traumatic OA & chronic injuries. I work out 6 days a week at the gym (50/50 split between cardio & weights). But I struggle with lack of energy, recovery, focus & unable to make any gains in strength or muscle mass in the weight room - despite eating a 100% organic whole foods diet.

It wasn't like this back in my younger days when I was bodybuilding/powerlifting/sprinting with good T-levels.

This is interesting on TRT:

Australia uses different measures to US.

my testosterone is around 16 nmol/L at age 60, last year.

"Below suggests that 21–35-year-old men with clearly defined normal health and fertility, has a range of 9.7–34.3 nmol/L with a mean of 18.2 nmol/L. However, there were significant discrepancies between the seven immunoassays assessed. Lower reference values ranged from 6.1 to 11.5 nmol/L, and upper values ranged from 35.1 to 44.9 nmol/L, highlighting the dilemma of defining a normal range with individual assays".

sprintgeexer, in my 20s, all i thought about was getting my squat up. Every time my squat to bodyweight ratio went up, so did my standing long, vertical and 100m time.

While i hate squats these days due to leg imbalance and lack of flexibility, i still have an exercise I aim to improve upon. 2023, and in recent years, it has been walking lunges and stepups.

this year my dedicated focus for base training will be on 60m times, aided by freelap, and getting my walking lunges and other exercises stronger, along with bounding reps.

I have always seen a correlation between strength and speed, although others may disagree in the relationship, so I just need to work hard again and see what happens.

That will be awesome Chris!

You're right, the U.S. labs uses ng/dl for measuring testosterone levels. If I did the conversion tables correctly - your 16 nmol/L would be 461 ng/dl (?). I initially had my levels in 2021 (age 60) which was 564 ng/dl & again last year (61) which dropped to 524 ng/dl. If I did the conversion tables correctly from ng/dl to nmol/L - 524 would be about 18.1 nmol/L.

We're about the same age & I'm a little bit higher than your level. So, are you experiencing hypogonadism like I am? Do you have trouble increasing strength & muscle mass with the weights? Is your energy levels, recovery, motivation, etc., all suffering?

Inquiring minds, hard to know as i used to be quite strong. Could bench press around 147.5kg near 40 years of age when testosterone was 20 nmol/L.

at age 50, benched 137.5kg, squatted 160kg and deadlifted 230kg at aroound 96-98kg bodyweight.

I am now much leaner 85kg, still can bench 10x bodyweight as well as 10 cadence pullups, but standing long now is crap 2.10m compared to best ever.

However, when i eat up again and train hard, I expect to get some leg strength and power back.

We shall see.

My mate has much higher test than me, yet he has lost much more strength and his body is mangled from years of heavy weights. I am lucky and mainly trained light with short rests.

For ideas and motivation, I follow a few sprinters on YT. Mathias Hove Johansen is a good Norwegian sprinter who posts regularly and is king of the drills/weights/plyos:

I just stumbled on the Neilsen twins, who are half of the UK bronze medal 4x4:

(great running form)

Crayvon Gillespie has a great vibe and some nice race commentary:

XY, yes i watch all of Mathias Hove Johansen's clips.

he does everything you could possibly do to improve his sprint times.

I enjoy watching Tony Holler clips, and will watch the others you have cited..

Inquiring Minds, apart from the reality that my flexibility is appalling and my leg power ordinary, I feel great and train just as hard as when I was 20. I don't recover well from intense sessions, but I never did.

Everything else seems normal, apart from getting up a few times at night to urinate, especially when it is cold.

After three kidney stones in 2017, I make sure I drink plenty even in the Winter.

.

geezer. when you say sit-squats do you mean bench squats?

Inquiring minds, that needs unpacking.

tervention

I will tell you that I have no idea what my T is, I have never even thought to get it assayed. I live my life, I age, I get slower, my hair is turning grey, whatever. I have absolutely no interest in knowing my T level.

re: “hypogonadism” and the level you cited: whatever. It means nothing to me, because it doesn’t tell me if you would in my mind qualify for a needed medical intervention—ie it provides me with no evidence that you are unable to lead a relatively normal, enjoyable, productive/unproductive life, as you choose within the limits of your history, motivations, and current situation.

Labels attached to T levels arise likely from statistical distributions, actuarial factors, and profit/loss analyses. So you are slower and weaker at 60 than before? Big deal. A lot slower and weaker? Big deal. I know people in their mid-90’s who have never in their adult lives been capable of even running a mile nonstop. Diminishing athletic performance is not a medical condition. Not being able to walk down a hill without breaking an ankle, that is a medical condition. Aortic aneurysm, that is a medical condition. Something that affects daily necessary function, not discretionary leisure functions like athletics or other sports. Of course what is necessary will vary with the individual, if you are doing heavy lifting work in a warehouse in order to get food to eat, for example.

The T drain is when you justify discretionary intervention as necessary, ie when you are fooling yourself or lying to yourself. Whether or not you are in this category, I don’t know, so I can’t comment on your situation.

The body is a balance, and everyone’s balance is unique. I imagine that even some with “normal” T may benefit from supplemental T, depending on the medical indication—but make no mistake, introducing more of any one particular thing into the body will cause the body to adapt, to re-establish homeostasis. Some of these adaptations might be good, and some might be bad—and where the overall effect ends up depends on the individual.

My mantra is that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. T therapies are IMO too recent for us to have any good understanding. I can speak only to what I know: I eat naturally, take absolutely no drugs or supps, and am in perfect health, train hard, and am still strong and fast as F. Meantime, I have watched/am watching the world around me crumble—aunt recently died of cancer; aunt and uncle dying of cancer; brother with gout; sister-in-law with Lupus; father-in-law dying of cancer: best friend with both ascending aorta and abdominal aorta grafts; ski champion friend torn up knee, etc etc etc etc. It’s unbelievable. All these people knew better than me, were smarter, thought they had things figured out, declined solicited and honest advice from a guy who knows about epidemiology, nutrition, exercise, cardiac rehab, and so on.

The proof is in the pudding, especially when you are talking about those genetically close to you, and those doing the same types of activities as you. Here I am, over 56, feeling great and getting better every day at skill things like swimming and skiing, with no real physical limitations getting in the way of progress, and maintaining my strength and speed at high levels…while those around me struggle to even get within sight of neutral.

Some things can’t be helped, but some can. Even some things that can’t be helped can be lessened or mitigated. These attitudes have worked for me and my wife, YMMV.

Btw where/how are you guys getting these T measurements? I went to Mayo for a full physical last year, and T never came up. PSA, lipid panel, glucose, and a liver panel because I requested it—but T was never a concept.

Also no Fe, Hb, Hct, etc

Sprintgeezer, i ask for the test occasionally to see where I am at.

I have high creatine levels naturally, so that explains why the last three weeks of 5g of creatine daily has proven yet again useless besides a couple of kgs extra bodyweight.

some articles says it helps oldies, but i reckon it does nothing for me.

Not really a whole lot to unpack - just a few questions particularly what are your test levels. But since you haven't tested them nor are you interested in doing so, then there's no way to make a comparison with my number (since you feel great & I feel crappy).

I realize "diminishing athletic performance is not a medical condition." But hypogonadism involving older men is an age-related degeneration disease. It's a low number plus symptoms. As I mentioned before, I'm a lifelong fitness enthusiast - former bobybuilder/powelifter/runner - struggling in my workouts at the ripe old age of 61. Lol. I'm unable to make any gains in strength or lean muscle mass - compromised protein synthesis from low T. My recovery from hard workouts, rate of injuries, energy levels & motivation is poor. Libido is poor & depression is high. All this despite eating a 100% organic whole-foods diet & drinking plenty of water.

You say you "train hard, and am still strong and fast as F." You say you eat natural & take no drugs or supplements. So, what is your diet like? Give my a snapshot of what your daily nutrition looks like. Do you eat foods that are known to increase testosterone? (maybe I need to make some changes afterall). And absolutely no dietary supplements at all? No Vitamin D? No daily mineral supp? No glucosamine? No caffeine supp? Nada?...zilch?

I'm with Kaiser Permanente & I just text my doc that I wanted a "total testosterone" test & he ordered one plus PSA (I told him I like to do it annually).

today, almost recovered from last week's training, used my freelap to test 30m and 60m.

Did 3x30m and 2x60m, stopping after 2nd 60m after I felt some soreness in left achilles.

Sad to see how slow I am these days.

Against moderate wind, ran 5.27 for 30m, and 9.40 for 60m. Going on that my second 30m is around 4.1. pretty slow - best ever was 7.4 for 60m and 3.04 for flying 30m.

Oh well, it is a start to improve upon.

A 61yr old wondering why they aren't as strong as they were? Who takes TRT and wants to compete?

I'm sorry, but you just have to accept you're old and, if you have trained consistently for years, will obviously not be as strong as you were when you were 51, or 41. That is just ageing, and it happens to us all. Taking TRT to artificially keep your T levels up is just...cheating. Accept your age gracefully. Still train, still work hard, still enjoy it, but accept the gym PBs are long gone. I admire your competitive mindset, but cheating & being unable to accept the reality of ageing...nah.